Original articleElectromyographic Activity in the Immobilized Shoulder Girdle Musculature During Ipsilateral Kinetic Chain Exercises
Section snippets
Participants
Five healthy, right-hand dominant men, ages 24 to 32 years, volunteered to participate. Subjects were recruited from our institution via advertisement. The first 5 men meeting the following inclusion criteria were enrolled: (1) right-hand dominant, (2) no history of right shoulder or neck injury or pain requiring formal medical treatment or activity modification, (3) full, pain-free, bilateral shoulder range of motion at the time of enrollment, and (4) no contraindications to fine-wire
Results
Figures 4A and 4B show the mean peak electromyographic activity for the rotator cuff, biceps, and anterior deltoid muscles during each motion. With the exception of the upper subscapularis, there was relatively little variation in mean peak electromyographic activity as a function of exercise. Infraspinatus and biceps brachii activity was uniformly low and responded very little to stepping (infraspinatus, 3%−6% MVC without step vs 3%−7% MVC with step; biceps, 3%−5% MVC with or without step).
Discussion
Shoulder immobilizers are commonly used postinjury and postsurgery to rest and protect healing tissues, particularly the anterior deltoid, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and/or biceps brachii. Our previous investigation suggested that deliberately performed ipsilateral scapulothoracic motions could be used during shoulder immobilization as part of the acute phase rehabilitation process in selected cases.11 Scapular depression and protraction performed with the immobilized shoulder
Conclusions
The current data suggest that early activation of the immobilized shoulder girdle musculature could potentially be safely achieved by performing specific kinetic chain exercises. The serratus anterior is perhaps the most important scapular stabilizer muscle.7, 8, 9, 23 Our results indicate that among the exercises currently investigated, cross-body rotations are best to achieve early activation of the serratus anterior. Although somewhat more selective serratus activity may be obtained by
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Supported by the Mayo Foundation and the Physiatric Association of Spine, Sports, and Occupational Rehabilitation.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.